e Obs. 8, above. One late grammarian,
whose style is on the whole highly commendable for its purity and accuracy,
forbears to condemn the phraseology here spoken of; and, though he does not
expressly defend and justify it, he seems disposed to let it pass, with the
license of the following canon. "For convenience, it may be well to state
it as a rule, that--_Passive verbs govern an objective, when the nominative
to the passive verb is not the proper object of the active
voice_."--_Barnard's Analytic Gram._, p. 134. An other asserts the
government of two cases by very many of our active verbs, and the
government of one by almost any passive verb, according to the following
rules: "Verbs of teaching, giving, and some others of a similar nature,
govern two objectives, the one of a person and the other of a thing; as, He
taught _me grammar_: His tutor gave _him a lesson_: He promised _me a
reward_. A passive verb may govern an objective, when the words immediately
preceding and following it, do not refer to the same thing; as, Henry _was
offered a dollar_ by his father to induce him to remain."--_J. M. Putnam's
Gram._, pp. 110 and 112.

OBS. 13.--The common dogmas, that an active verb must govern an object, and
that a neuter or intransitive verb must not, amount to nothing as
directions to the composer; because the classification of verbs depends
upon this very matter, whether they have, or have not, an object after
them; and no general principle has been, or can be, furnished beforehand,
by which their fitness or unfitness for taking such government can be
determined. This must depend upon usage, and usage must conform to the
sense intended. Very many verbs--probably a vast majority--govern an object
sometimes, but not always: many that are commonly intransitive or neuter,
are not in all their uses so; and many that are commonly transitive, have
sometimes no apparent regimen. The distinction, then, in our dictionaries,
of verbs active and neuter, or transitive and intransitive, serves scarcely
any other purpose, than to show how the presence or absence of the
objective case, affects the meaning of the word. In some instances the
signification of the verb seems almost merged in that of its object; _as,
to lay hold, to make use, to take care_. In others, the transitive
character of the word is partial; as, "He _paid_ my _board_; I _told you
so_." Some verbs will govern any objective whatever; as, _to name, to
mention_. What i